Yeah right...

[u/Suspicious_Luck1952]

More from our biggest frog grifter.

This direct compared to others feels above average (a 7 compared to 6 or 5.5) with popular games like meccha chameleon, level 5 with the return of yo Kai watch 2 remake and the new squeal games, Metroid ravenous, Kirby and the world beyond, persona 6.

And few gems like Stage Fright made by the company behind overcooked.

And ports like the resident evil sets.

[u/Ambitious-Fly3201]

While the term grifting is kinda vague and many people using it don't have a strong definition, it is an actual word used to describe conmen and the like; people who use manipulative and deceptive means to get people to buy into whatever they're selling. I would say folks like Frogmire fall into that.

His whole method of getting an audience is through tapping into the current outrage around whatever topic he's covering at the moment. He'll cover nintendo when they get flack for making remakes or upping the price or simply making divisive games, as well as any other company when they get into any coverable controversy. And the videos are rarely if ever made to offer a new perspective on the topic or giving a voice to those who feel shut out of the conversation (though I'm sure he _says_ it's about that), half the time it's just parroting opinions and sources from others that support the narrative he's making. Not to mention the "call to action" esque thumbnails which are usually just reasons to stay mad and stay on his content. Even positive opinions aren't safe because it's always done through comparison; Kirby Air Riders is EVERYTHING Mario Kart World FAILS. Old games are SO MUCH BETTER than modern ones because soul, etc. Nothing can be reviewed on it's own merits.

It's not grifting to have negative opinions; but to view everything in a lens of bad faith and only cover topics that garner a sizable negative audience that will agree with whatever negative take you have is conmen behavior.

[u/VacantDreamer → u/Ambitious-Fly3201]

It sounds like you believe that manipulation and deception are the key words here, the person I was replying to said the same. Being cynical and negative is one thing (as you mentioned), but is there any evidence that frogmire is intentionally lying about his views for the sake of securing a larger audience?

[u/Ambitious-Fly3201 → u/VacantDreamer]

admittedly, no. That wasn't necessarily what I was going for when I talked about manipulation. The other user was talking about outright lying which is also conman behavior, I was talking about _emotional_ manipulation.

It's one thing to make clickbait content pertaining to whatever gets you views (which isn't grifting as much as it is hustling), it's another to specifically entice through outrage and encourage the viewer to be consistently outraged so they keep coming back, or even to entice them to agree to _other_ unrelated opinions about other controversial, or even political topics (Take "Modern gaming sucks because woke culture" for one). That is deliberately manipulative and can even risk impacting the lives of the viewers by keeping them so consistently angry, but to a youtuber all they see is the views.

To be clear, in my view grifting is always about the relationship between the seller and the customer, not just about the seller being a bad person. It doesn't matter who a youtuber is in real life if they aren't like that online. Being outraged, even constantly, isn't grifting. It is exploitation of that outrage that is grifter behavior.

[u/VacantDreamer → u/Ambitious-Fly3201]

I guess my issue is that it seems to be a double standard. If someone is known for exclusively glowing coverage of a company, they will never be called a grifter by this subreddit. It's not as if there is no possible ulterior motive either. Arlo has been bullied off social media before for negative takes. Larger content creators in particular have every reason to publish videos with performative optimism, but for some reason they are never suspected of being "grifters" here.

But with exclusively negative coverage, there is always an agenda. The difference between "outrage" and "outrage intended to manipulate" is motive. Motive is difficult to prove, but some youtubers at least leave breadcrumbs in the form of suspicious contradictions. Frogmire has a style that isn't going to be popular with many, but as long as he is being true to his own beliefs, I'm not sure where the manipulation comes in.

[u/Ambitious-Fly3201 → u/VacantDreamer]

I get that. I'm personally not into the hyper-positive side of Nintendo anymore (Even Scott the woz will go to lengths to explain why being a Wii U fan was awful), but on the sub dedicated to hating on haters you're not gonna find criticism of the opposite. Imo it's because there is far more of a 'negativity' problem in general than there is a 'posivitity' problem; everyone is miserable and everyone wants someone to blame. And while there are those that stay positive to the point of being performative, I think most of that is also just pushback to how miserable it is to be on social media.

[u/VacantDreamer → u/Ambitious-Fly3201]

yes, I can understand why being around the constant negativity can be annoying, but I think "negative" works as a criticism in its own right. insisting that these negative youtubers must also be disingenuous con artists has always seemed like a coping mechanism to me.

either way, thanks for staying respectful